Wow, it's your 5th lesson already! I hope you had great holidays and you are all ready for your new list:
1. heeling: make the "glued to the leg" exercise more like heeling: still do different kind of turns, but also some normal forward walking in different speeds (slow, normal, fast) to teach them to adjust and keep the right position in every situation
2. figure 8 backward: tell the dog to go into heel position and start spinning as we were doing on the target, then very suddenly stop and step back with the other leg (if the dog is at left side - with right leg), you can also make a gesture with a left hand to try to get them to keep circling below the heeling position, eventually all the way around your leg, so that they come backwards between your legs back into front position. If the dog insists on staying in heel position, you can help with the hand a little bit, lure his head out (left for 90 degrees if the dog is on left side) and say back to have them back up in your direction. Step back with the other leg enough to have them back up between your legs. Reward and tell them to heel on the other side (right) and repeat the process. As soon as you get some smoothness with that, stop rewarding for coming in between, always first tell them to come to the other leg and reward at your side in order to avoid having them back up too far - they need to stay very close to your legs all the time.
You can see the steps at 2:51 of this video:
3. skateboarding: try to find a skateboard (kids department) and reward for making it move with front feet. Don't reward 4on, but 2 or 3, the criteria is they make a skateboard move.
4. cik&cap: find a table leg, dog-food container, traffic cone or similar and shape the dog to go around it - first just a step, then two or three circles, both directions (ideally, reward both right from the start if you are getting it - if not, start with just one, but then on one session, don't reward that direction anymore but wait for the other)
5. fade the object for side legs: if the dog is already heaving both legs up at the same time, click&reward that before he even touches the object, so that he understands the idea is picking them up, not touching something. At the same time, try changing objects as much as possible. Going to vertical objects shouldn't be too difficult, then go to "empty" objects like a chair that looks like an object, but doesn't really offer much support, so at this point, the dog is already free-standing, the object is just there for mental support. Next step in a table leg and then you don't need an object anymore. For a free handstand, you go through the same process, only that it takes longer as it's physically more demanding - you can start working on it, but do not rush it, especially not with young puppies!
6. don't forget on recalls and playing, stays with distractions (you can combine it all in a really fun game), try the hug on a plastic bottle or something similar that is light enough for the dog to hold it and have them hold it independently, add more steps to backing up from you, tape the 4in the bowl trick again so that I can see to what size you managed to get: the smaller the better!
And most importantly: have fun!
I know tons of amateur trainers using your running contact method and cik & cap, so no surprise that Szofi is using it too!
Here’s Dash learning “cap”--this was only about his third try, and already pretty tight:
That sure looks tight!!! Very cool!
Nice to see that 4 in the bowl is on the list again! I filmed this before Christmas. Papu is trying his best although the box is quite small for him and maybe a bit slippery…
Happy New Year to everyone!! And by the way, I’m really glad we’re on this course, having a blast! 😀
Wow, that’s definitely very small bowl for such a long dog! He is sure trying so hard, I think he will soon master this size! -- And I’m not sure if anything smaller is still possible for that long back…
Best wishes for 2012, everybody! -- See you next year! 🙂
On Christmas night Judy was showing Star’s tricks and she did this one all on her own!
Then we practiced a bit by ourselves
Deb
Very cool! You can try having her climb people’s legs next! I found the easiest to fade the legs as it’s easy to move them some and jackpot if they can balance on their own.
And here’s our progress stacking rings on a post.
I’m not sure if I’m really on the right track, but I’m trying to click when she moves so that the ring is over the post, whether or not it actually goes on.
A couple times I let her get frustrated on purpose (by not clicking much) to see if she’d make a leap in understanding, but that didn’t work yet.
Any suggestions?
Deb
Wow…very cool! Star is so funny…love her enthusiasm! Great job!!!
Wow, that first try with a paw slamming it down the stand was hilarious! Star and her enthusiasm sure is something! Is this the biggest ring that comes with a stand? The bigger one you use the easier beginning steps would be. But I think you are getting enough good tries to just continue like that. I would reward everything “close enough” for now and jackpot when she actually puts it on a stand.
Also, for those who want to try it too, but don’t find this toy, you can try home-made version that I used: a plastic bottle (a cone would be even better!) and one of those tugging toys in a ring form, you can see it at 2:37 of this video:
What a wonderful video! Great inspiration. Thank you, thank you, Silvia!
Wow Star is so cool! I really like her personality… she is so energetic and seems so fun to train. You have inspired me to go out and get one of those ring toys… I hope they have it at target.
Thanks! Star is definitely enthusiastic! And so much fun to train!
I found that ring stack toy at WalMart, but I’m sure Target would have it as well. I’m using the biggest ring that came with it.
Deb
If you have one of those ring dog toys, you could try with that first, to make it easier, and once she gets fluent with it, switch back to those rings to work on precision.
Hi Silvia,
Happy New Year! I have been a bit slow on some of the exercises but I thought I would post what I have to get some feedback. The two videos I have are a) handstand work in progress and b) heelwork with low perch/no perch. Please let me know what you think and any suggestions you can make.
Heel/Perch
Backup onto wall (sorry it is not in youtube but on Facebook, not sure if it’ll embed):
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Great understanding of the position also without the perch! Time to try side, backward and forward steps too! How is the right leg side going? Getting there with the handstand too, try to reward even closer to the wall, so that his front feet are very very close to the wall. That will give him a more vertical position and a better balance. You can then next try it against your legs (or against helper’s legs) so that you can feel well how much he is leaning and can start selecting for more&more independent handstands.
Thanks for the feedback. I haven’t tried the lower perch/no perch on the right side yet, however, he is good at rotating both directions now so I think I should be OK. I’ll try soon.
Also thank you for where to go with the Handstand.
Silvia, I actually have a followup question now that I had a chance to think about it. It is a general training question but I will frame it in the perspective of the Heel/perch exercise.
When I got rid of the perch, I lowered my criteria for finding the position (I c/t for a bit crooked, a bit far, but still by the left leg). He got better and better -- closer and straighter.
A couple of times he went below criteria (crooked, either too forward or rotating too far back, or too far away). What I did then was no click, no treat, move away, and let him try again. If he did at criteria or better, then click/treat.
Any other suggestions on how to shape a straighter/tighter heel position by allowing below-criteria behavior to go unreinforced???
That’s pretty much how I approach it too yes. If I’m getting too many of too sloppy tries, I go back to the target, maybe trying to fade it more gradually. But you’re getting enough of really good ones to just continue like that, selecting for the best tries and not clicking the worst few. -- I hope that answers your question, I’m not completely sure I got it right?
Hi Silvia, yes, that’s my question, and your answer is helpful especially regarding bringing back the target.
Reading my original question I think I should add more detail to what I want to understand:
If the dog ends up sitting too far/too crooked, we don’t click/treat.
Then, next, what is more effective:
a) Move your legs so he will try again and c/t for better response
b) Don’t move your legs, wait and see if the dog gets up and fixes their position? And if they fix position, c/t?
Option a) is easier so I will go that way for a first session without a perch to give them some time to grasp the idea, but then switch to b), so that they see the game doesn’t continue if they don’t try harder. For a first couple of tries, I would c/t that but then not anymore as you can again create a chain of sit wherever, then fix it, then get a reward for it -- that’s why you don’t really want to reinforce those second tries. I only reward successful first tries (the same as for 2on2off) at the end, but might make it somewhat easier for a first session or two.
Hi Andre,
Looks great! I have a tip to offer on the heeling, which I learned 30 years ago and have used since. That is, to always reward with the hand closest to the dog, and while trying to maintain your shoulders facing forward as much as possible. Twisting around to offer the treat--even after the click--can have fallout later on.
Even with my small Pap, I click him in position, and try to bend my knees and reach down to give the treat while maintaining my forward-facing position. This also means changing clicker and treat hands when you go from practicing left side to right side…but I think it’s worth it.
My last dog trained that way (now almost 10) lost almost no points on heeling while getting his Novice & Open titles. I’m really sold on “feeding with hand closest to the dog.”
I normally advise that too yes as it’s definitely a shorter way to the goal, so I always say that when I see people reward too much in. HOWEVER, I have a confession to make: I’m TERRIBLE at giving food with my left hand, so I’m either rewarding left side with a toy OR twist in real quick to deliver the treat. Their heeling still looks perfectly good, but I of course don’t use any lures in heeling (I think you do?), that’s why rewarding from “wrong” hand works for me just fine. But I definitely agree it’s easier to avoid rewarding on a wrong place if you’re rewarding from the hand closer to the dog. I just don’t think it’s impossible to reward well from the opposite hand.
Thanks Sharon, yes, I am not sure why I was feeding the way I was(!) I think a finger on my left hand had a split cuticle or something that day.
Happy new year to Silvia and classmates and we hope that Silvia will give us some new chalenges for 2012 like on this video !!! 🙂
http://www.zapiks.com/share/player.swf?autoStart=true&lang=en&file=52372
Yeap, saw that before, really cool! 🙂
Heeling : early tries with small side movement, Garlic re-adjust her position
Skateboarding and 4in
Now that’s heeling! Great progress, add some forward and backwards steps now too, but still only doing little small steps. I think she can do that last bowl too, just keep working on it, maybe add some more duration on a bigger one first and then come back to that one. Getting there with skateboarding too!
Thanks for your encouragements, Silvia ! I understand now the importance of work on independent pivoting, since I start moving a (small ) step and Garlic re-adjust has she learned with pivoting : magic !!!
hello Silvija and classmates ;))
back with some video production again. I hope we are doing well? Baloo is very small dog, so we can do just as much tricks as she can eat and no more. Of course she could (and would like to) eat much more and do much more exercises.
Here I send mostly new tricks. From Lesson 1-4 we have added duration, paw changes …. but I’m not sending video of this progress (to much video production and video loading on youtube).
some tricks -- like 2on2 with duration, distractions, toys and speed -- I have to shoot outdoor, because in house there is not enought space for speed -- at the end we (or me?) slam something like wall and I must say It’s not when we do our slam the door trick.
See you all soon. You are all doing great !!!
Wow…really fun video to watch! GREAT job with the tricks…and video editing! 🙂 Baloo is just too cute!!!
Great video and great progress!
Great job! Those were REALLY cool slams! -- Cute and powerful! Very nice cavaletti too, amazing coordination with walking on it too! 🙂 Great understanding of 2on2off and almost there with a handstand too -- she has a very nice style, pushing off with both legs at the same time. Now you just need to shape a more vertical position so that she can eventually balance on her own. Try to get front paws VERY close to the sofa/wall, rewarding right there, to get a more vertical position. You can then try it against your legs and clicking when you feel she is not leaning on too much, to eventually fade the support. Terriers are perfect for this trick and have the best handstands! Nice bowls stacking too and impressive pivots (what a speed and coordination!). For heeling position, make sure you always reward with a vertical, high-up head, not in -- you often do it especially when she is on your right, because you’re rewarding from your left hand and don’t twist in her enough -- so either change hands or twist in more and faster! 🙂 -- That’s the only little detail I can find that you can still improve, the rest all looks perfect! 🙂
Thanks, Silvija I think you’ve missed some of my double cliks ;))
What I wanted to say is this -thank you classmates. What you see on this video is just a result. I didnt shoot the whole prosses, because whenever any problem occured I have had found the solution in your questions and Silvija’s suggestions. So thank you all for your effort ;))
I didn’t!!! 🙂 But as there was such an improvement from last time, I could live with that 🙂 Great job and yes, the videos of the problems are always the best for learning -- and the videos of the final results are always great for inspiration! I know the whole editing process is quite time consuming, but it’s well worth it! -- AND, you’ll have great videos of your puppies growing up -- I’m always angry at myself to not make more videos of my dogs when they’re puppies!
Very inspiring! I love watching these videos. After watching one I always jump right up to work with my own dog some more!
here I send some funny tricks my two girls do in-between school hours. To relax you from school duties ;)) Enyou
Oh my goodness, “Do you love me” is SO CUTE!!!
Very cute!!! Camera loves them both! 🙂 Loved hugging the shoe, and the suitcase trick and the “love me”, too cute!
sorry for some technical problems 😉 Solved ;))
I just love them!
Garlic also eats all her food as treats !!! Never enough to give !!!
Baloo seems to be a little higher than Garlic ( 32 cm ).
I learn a lot with your video ! Baloo has often same behavior than my Garlic, but Baloo is more high speed in execution and I like it ! Good idea to use a scale for Cavaletti !
For 2on2off, you can also threw a treat ( or a toy ) on release to get fun acceleration ! And you can try with a more long box, so the dog can walk a step on it before 2o2o.
I will try to learn hug as you do it.
Your heeling is very high speed : how do you get such fast pivoting ? You have the same problem I had, to give treat precise in front of her mouth to master precise position of the dog : so you can switch food and clicker from one hand to the other if you don’t want to lean !
I will be happy to get your comments on my videos !
Thanks for nice comments. for 2on2off -- I know treats and toys are good. On this video I have used those, but the problem in the room is there is not enought space, so no acceleration is possible. So I have to shoot video and make those nice releases (go) outdoor.
Pivoting started from circling around the object -- as you can see she is circling fast, and pivoting came from circling fast. From the start she was quite slow, but when she found out the basic the speed came also, specialy when I didnt click her for every circle, but just give her word of encouragement, like YES or MORE, with enthusiastic voice and the click for the second or thirth circle. When got nice heeling on both sides (Heel and foot on right side -- taking turns -- first left then right) -- also I move fast, with fast clicking and giving food. And here is the reason, why I dont have time to change food and clicker from one hand to another ;)) Will start clicking with my mouth.
Maybe this is the answer for speed. But Baloo is fast in every aspect, so this is maybe her caracteristic. But enthusiastic, high, nice voice of encouragament helps always. I also always work with two of my dogs together, one is practicing STAY the other is working, and both are getting rewards for clicks. Maybe the other dog is giving drive to another, when present. What do you think, Silvija?
I’ll watch your videos and see if I can be of any assistance. Enjoy your nice girl. By the way -- Baloo is 34 cm.
Yes, I think all those factors add to their speed: one is their natural temperament, some dogs are just more intense as others by their nature. However, you can affect that by rewarding for speed: Bu for example is a very “sleepy” dog by nature, but by rewarding for fast and intense, I got a dog who looks almost as intense when doing tricks as La -- who is naturally hyper dog and doesn’t know how to do anything slowly. Understanding is another important thing -- that also allows you to ask for more circles and that gives them fluency. Good rear end awareness is a must too, so all other tricks that address it help a lot too. Competition between two dogs on who gets to work and who has to wait is great too. Watching another dog working with enthusiasm and intensity makes them more enthusiastic and intense too.